for employees. bob bruno, a labor and employment relations professor at the university of illinois at chicago joins us this morning on set. good morning to you bob. > > good morning. > are unions the answer here? > > i think unions can be the answer. they have been historically. but in these particular cases, something truly creative is going on. these workers are really not demanding a union election vote or a collective bargaining agreement. they are talking about raising standards. they are talking about conditions that are poor and trying to put some pressure on these employers to raise those up. > are the conditions that poor? is the working wage that awful? > > this wage is pretty bad. we are talking about very profitable companies, very profitable industries, in most metropolitan areas; and these workers, on average, will bring in roughly around $22,000, $24,000 a year. and for about half these workers, they are the principal breadwinners. that is about $9-something an hour, without benefits. so it's pretty bad. > > here is a statement coming from rob karr. he is a lobbyist with the il
